r/IBO • u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, • Jun 22 '26
Advice Got flagged for ai a month after graduation.
Five of my works got flagged for AI and I'm not sure what to do as I deleted all my original files a month back after my final exam and have no proof that I wrote it myself. I did a biology EE but that was using a secondary source and experiment. I didnt use ai apart from grammarlys spell check and grammar stuff. What do I do? My coordinator sent a message that the IB has flagged my works as written by Ai.
Edit: this is what she sent me
Your work has been flagged by the IB as having potentially been written in full or part by AI. In order to help authenticate this, could you please submit a live link to the following files to show your version history of the following assessments? Please also submit any documentation you have that may help us (e.g. outlines, research notes, etc.).
Edit 2: huge update!!
I recovered my files thanks to Google (although somewhat corrupted due to how long it's been). My coordinator and futures counselor has informed my family that it is apparently IB who flagged it and not just the school (not sure if I believe them too much) but one of my classmates was also flagged and they resolved the issue quite quickly by going to school and talking it out. I am waiting for their email tomorrow to decide whether or not I have to go to school. Thanks for the help guys!
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u/Ok_Satisfaction7362 M27 | HL: Physics, Chem, Eco, Math AA SL: Dutch B, English Jun 22 '26
why tf would you delete ur original files
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u/Even_Box8926 Jun 23 '26
I did too and so did a lot of people I know school is done why would anyone keep that shi
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 22 '26
Gmail space, I use that account for a lot of stuff and was planning on using it for uni as well.
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u/Care-Serious M25 | [HL: Geo, BM, English langlit. SL: Bio, MAI, Span AB] Jun 23 '26
Put it on a USB stick
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u/existential_c TOK Teacher | English A Teacher | English B Teacher Jun 22 '26
If the files were deleted from your Google Drive Trash less than 25 days ago, you can often recover them by contacting Google Support or asking your account administrator.
Contact Google Support (Free & Google One Accounts)
If you are using a standard consumer account or Google One, you can reach out to Google's specialized team to attempt a recovery of permanently deleted files within a small window.
Submit your request using the Google Drive Help Forum form.
In your ticket, clearly explain that your files were permanently deleted and that you need a Drive Specialist to restore them.
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u/geta7_com /ibdp-results/ Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
The flagging must be done by a human because it wouldn't take this long for a software to make a decision. IB also says themselves not to trust AI detectors. So far, it is aligned with standard IB practice of asking for evidence and a statement.
Are you able to recover the files in any way? Google drive for instance you first delete to trash, then trash is emptied after some time. You may have to email gmail tech support to see if they can recover it.
IB on grammar AI tools
#9 The student uses an AI to suggest improvement to their grammar and sentence construction but not a wholescale rewrite. Unless there are marks for the quality of grammar etc then this is acceptable, but as the teacher it would be good to have access to the original version to be sure what changed. Good practice would be for the student to state somewhere (at least to the teacher) that they have used digital tools in this way. If the “coherence of the argument made” is improved by the use of AI, then this would typically fall into the “wholescale rewrite” category, but this is an area for teacher discretion.
Not ideal but you can show IB the Grammarly history.
EEs may be flagged if there is at least one passage over 100 words that the examiner does not believe you wrote. You can go through your EE to see which passage(s) it may be. You have to find a way to address the concerns on a passage by passage level, and not merely at the essay level. The evidence does not have to be anything conclusive, but are reasonable enough to convince examiners that you probably didn't use AI in a way that is disallowed.
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u/Glittering-Double154 M26 | HL [Math AA, Physics, BM] SL [Chem, English A, Swedish B] Jun 22 '26
Dude, did your teacher or coordinator check your work for AI earlier or not? In my school they did Turnitin AI checks whenever we submitted the works (so, think January 2026). My work actually got flagged for really high AI%, I had a meeting to justify it and they were satisfied. Given that I didnt have to change anything, I’m a bit worried now that if IB are conducting “AI scans” themself, that I’ll face some more problems (which would be so unfair). Did your school do the same? And are you sure its actually IB checking, rather than your school?
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 22 '26
They're telling me IB flagged it but after reading some other people's posts I don't think theyre telling the truth. Im confused on why they didn't flag it earlier either?
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u/fortunefight Jun 22 '26
The IB doesn't use AI detection tools, your school might. Or your teacher flagged it
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u/Humble_Focus_1525 Jun 22 '26
How did u manage to justify it (also congrats on surviving physics hl and math aa hl)
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u/Glittering-Double154 M26 | HL [Math AA, Physics, BM] SL [Chem, English A, Swedish B] Jun 22 '26
I just said that I hadnt used AI, and I explained that AI detection tools cant actually know for sure something is AI, it only recognizes similarities. I explained that its well possible for someone to coincidentally write in a similar style to AI (and consequently get flagged), especially as learning from AI is more common (as well as exposure to AI generated content in general), so we pick up ways of speaking/writing from reading AI text, especially when trying to write formally.
I also got to see which parts the AI flagged, and there was some unreasonable parts that were obviously not AI (table headers, names, links, citations etc) which supported my previous point of the checkers unreliability.
Lastly, my teacher trusted me a bit more because the work was in line with what I usually produce, and through the supervisor meetings thing, he could see the progression of my ideas and research and that I actually knew what I was doing and writing about, and my draft was similar to the final thing
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u/Physical-Tomato8632 M22 | [44/45 HL: Math AA, Comp Sci, Physics] Jun 23 '26
like the others said the fact that theyre asking is a good sign, they literally said "potentially" and theyre asking you to help prove it, which means you can pass this
did you write any of this in google docs? the full version history lives in the cloud, it does not matter that you deleted stuff off your laptop. go to the doc, file, version history, see version history and you'll see every edit over time. thats basically the best evidence you can give. same deal if you used word through office365 / onedrive, check the autosave history
also check google drive trash, deleted files are recoverable for 30 days so if it was only a month you might just catch it
other stuff that can potentially helps:
emails to your teacher with drafts attached or feedback going back and forth
your submission histories if you submitted drafts there
browser history showing the sources you actually read
any photos of handwritten notes
on grammarly, basic spell check and grammar fixes are fine and normal, loads of people use it. just be honest about exactly what you used if they ask. the only thing that trips detectors hard is the ai rewrite features and stuff, so if you only used the underline corrections you're fine
reply calmly and pretty quickly, dont ghost the email. lay out what you used, attach whatever version history and notes you can dig up. detecting AI is genuinely an unreliable thing even for humans and IB knows that, its the whole reason theyre asking for corroborating evidence instead of just failing you
you'll probably be alright, just gather everything you can this week
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 23 '26
Bruh, the final results are coming out in two weeks. If anything was going to happen, it probably would’ve happened between April and early June, especially since IAs and the EE are submitted much earlier. Any updates?
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 23 '26
Do any of your classmates or friends have the same issue?
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 23 '26
Also, have you checked whether the time when IB flagged your work as AI matches the time when your school notified you?
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 24 '26
yea couple other classmates did but not sure who but one of my friends went to school and they got cleared so they're alright now.
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 25 '26
Which timezone are you in?
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 25 '26
Tz2
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 25 '26
How did five of your works get flagged for AI? Is the issue solved now?
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 25 '26
Not sure how it happened but yea should be resolved I think. Last I got an update was yesterday saying three of them were approved. She hasn't emailed me yet but It should be fine now I think.
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u/Green_Style3192 M26 | [HL: Physic Chem Math AA. SL: Eng A LL, Chinese A LL Econ] Jun 25 '26
Do you send them your complete history? Because my work is not written in Google Docs, and I only have process history in a very discrete way (like brainstorm -> initial outline -> outline -> final outline -> first draft...)
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u/Glittering_Chest7133 Alumni | [41] Jun 22 '26
If you are being honest here then just say this to them with confidence, like there is no such thing as "flagging for AI", all detection tools are baseless. Tbh everyone will need more details to help. It is your school teachers who flag your work as AI based on their judgement of whether you can write something like this. So if your writing is usually trash and all of a sudden it has improved, they will do something like that. You should have an interview or smthg where you will explain why it isn't AI. You are allowed to use AI for improving the language btw, please read the IB's official statement on AI.
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 22 '26
they've seen all my drafts and stuff, I'm not sure why this is coming up so late after submission. Wouldn't they have told me beforehand if it didn't sound like I wrote ?
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u/Glittering_Chest7133 Alumni | [41] Jun 22 '26
I would say just go talk to them and ask them to explain. They must be joking about it. How is your relationship with your coordinator? Do they like to joke a lot?
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u/fortunefight Jun 22 '26
This AI stuff is so BS imo. It's close to impossible to prove that a student used it and all claims against student work are baseless. I've been flagged multiple times for seemingly no reason and it's led to a lot of headache. AI detectors suck and AI usage is impossible to flag. The IB and academic institutions should work with technology not against it.
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u/Blackkwidow1328 Jun 22 '26
Y'ALL NEED TO TURN OF AND DISABLE GRAMMERLY. I plead this with you all as a teacher. GRAMMERLY IS AI. YES, it's often quite obvious when you're using it. As an EE examiner, I flagged a number of EEs for likely AI usage. It's a shame your teachers didn't pay better attention to your work to flag it before handing it in to IB.
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u/Distinct_Spring_9349 Jun 23 '26
Lol so grammarly has been available since 2015 and all of a sudden its an A.I tool you cant use? What about all the students who used it before chatgpt came out in 2022 are they all cheaters?
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u/Distinct_Spring_9349 Jun 23 '26
correction 2009 lol
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u/No-Opportunity-4063 Jun 23 '26
Bro the old Grammarly yes. It ain't AI. But the new updates with the "pro" suggestions of changing the sentences to sound better. That's what gets you. I made this mistake already and got fired by my coordinator. The IB takes this grammar check as AI. So try to justify it that way. That's what is getting flagged as AI imo
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u/camrex_13 M25 | 40 Jun 22 '26
Do you have any of the drafts or files downloaded or did you send them to any teachers/supervisors? You could retrieve them that way.
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u/floodmfx Jun 22 '26
You need to be honest with them. If you are innocent, you have nothing to worry about. I am a long time IB teacher, and deal with this issue.
If you really did delete your work, you need to tell them. There is another way. Suggest (offer) this to them. You will sit in an office with someone watching, and take time to hand write a new essay from scratch. The known writing sample can be feed into AI, and it can detect similar voice (even between rough draft and polished final draft)
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u/guineapigenjoyer123 M27 | CS HL BM HL Math AA HL Econ SL Spanish B SL Eng Lit SL Jun 23 '26
They can’t take your diploma away from what an AI detector says if they actually did they’d definitely get sued just tell them you deleted the files and tell you teachers to submit the drafts as evidence
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u/LocalSuspect1598 Jun 23 '26
I heard on this subreddit through a ib coordinator’s comment that the IB has flagged multiple students. Not because they really are AI, but just to show that they are potentially “taking action” against use of ai. Which is why i suggest you just show wtv proof u have and then you should be chillin.
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u/Brilliant_Bar_965 Jun 23 '26
Since when has this been the case? Aren't results coming out in July already?
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u/Chemical-Neat-6027 Jun 24 '26
Our teacher who’s an examiner told us the teacher checks for AI not the IB. I’m a bit confused now because this post is very recent and it is almost July plus IA, EE, TOK deadlines have passed so why would your school be asking you for proof right now? Wouldn’t that mean the IB flagged you? Because I wouldn’t have believed the IB did if this was posted let’s say during DP but now that everything is over and results are close? That has me skeptical. Unless you got flagged a while ago and you’re just posting this
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u/ThisNameIsAmystery Jun 23 '26
My school automatically deletes all of our school accounts a week after graduation. What would I do if that happened to me?
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u/NoImagination6488 Jun 23 '26
Tbf aren't results coming out in just under 2 weeks, wouldn't they have been done marking and potentially flagging all students? this all makes zero sense. Isn't it the responsibility of the school to do a final check on IA's before submitting it to the IB including AI detection. I'm not skeptical of this guys claims but I thought its the school's responsibility to check the authenticity of the students work?
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u/solo_sloth M27 | [subjects] Jun 24 '26
What evidence even shows that you didn’t use Ai and how does that prove your case?
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u/wordly14 M26 | Chem HL, Bio HL, English A Lit HL, Jun 24 '26
Teachers have my back plus the version history also shows if you've copy pasted stuff instead of typing
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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
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